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Fear of Nuclear Radioactivity Increasing in U.S.

Sept. 29, 1961 - An American Medical Association publication came up today with a new phobia: "nucleomitophobia," or fear of atomic energy. The publication, "Today's Health," reported that public officials are receiving many calls from frantic persons who think they are "radioactive." The article quoted Dr. Milton A. Dushkin, medical director of the North Shore Hospital in Illinois. Dr. Dushkin said that people were "seeing" submarines in Lake Michigan that shot mysterious rays to the shore and ghostly flying objects that somehow charged women's hair curlers with radioactivity. "It's a product of the age," he explained.


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